The Tattered Notebook: Land of the lost

It's been quite a while since I trekked through EverQuest II's Darklight Wood with a newly minted shadowknight, and the time seems right to take another look at one of the game's grand adventuring zones. Between the influx of newbs flocking to SOE servers thanks to EQ2X and the Norrathian expatriates returning to possibly rekindle their former flame, a tour of one of the game's more noteworthy locales is in order.

Join me (and my ratonga alter-ego) after the cut as we adventure through the Enchanted Lands.
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Overview

The Enchanted Lands lie north of the well-traveled continent of D'Lere, just across a narrow stretch of ocean from Nektulos Forest and south by southwest from the scorched rock brownscape that is the land of Zek. The Enchanted Lands also border on nearby Rivervale, and the two zones are similar in terms of geography, terrain, and inhabitants. In happier times, the region was called the Misty Thicket and served as the home of Norrath's halfling breeds as well as various flavors of fairie folk. After the cataclysm (no, not that one) that sundered the Antonican continent into the Shattered Lands, the Enchanted Lands continued to thrive and still feature some of Norrath's most stunning scenery despite the mysterious disappearance of most of the halfling population and the creeping evil that has been trickling into the region for some time.

Reaching the secluded island is a simple matter of hopping a boat from nearby Nektulos Forest, or if you're fortunate enough to have the translocate spell, you can simply port there. The former method will deposit you on the Bobick Village dock while the latter zips you over to the spire portal in the extreme southeastern reaches of the island.

Travel around the zone is exclusively on foot (or mount), though this might change during the winter months as flying mounts make their way to the world of Norrath. As it stands now, the Enchanted Lands are among the more interesting zones to navigate, as they feature a fairly large landmass rife with impassable geographical elements and chock-full of aggro mob groups. There's only one revive point too, so if you die on the approach to Runnyeye near the northern portions of the island, you'll be hoofing it back cross-country to resume your adventuring activities from the Bobick dock.

Appropriate levels

Speaking of adventuring, the Enchanted Lands are built for levels 30 to 39, with the majority of the quests being soloable throughout this range. There are a few repeatables, as well as a couple of heroic quests that necessitate a friend or two (those nasty defiled villagers spring to mind). By and large though, you can embark on a lengthy tour of the Enchanted Lands all by your lonesome and come out of it with several levels, decent loot, and coin for your troubles.

Along the way, you may want to do a bit of harvesting, either for profit or to supply your own crafters. The Enchanted Lands make up a tier four harvesting zone, so you'll need to have the appropriate skills leveled up to 140 or higher before you begin.

Noteworthy quests

In addition to the solo quest timeline linked in the previous section, the Enchanted Lands have several interesting quests that you'll want to check out during your visit. Chief among these is, of course, The History of Ratonga, Part III, which gives you insight into the most famous, powerful, and beautiful of all of EQII's races. This insight takes the form of a spiffy book item for your house and is an absolute necessity for any Norrathian historian's library. If you must know, there are also additional racial history quests in the Enchanted Lands, including features on feir'dal, halflings, gnomes, and barbarians, each of which also grants you semi-interesting volumes for your house.

The Enchanted Lands also play host to two zone-specific collections featuring Rivervale coins collection and enchanted maple leaves. You'll occasionally find these collection pieces as random "shinies" that spawn on the ground around the zone, and turning in the completed collections to a collector NPC will reward you with a fair bit of experience.

Finally, EQII's famed Heritage Quests make several appearances in the zone. Foomby's Stolen Goods is a relatively easy HQ that will also reward you with a 20-slot bag (not as impressive as it once was, but still nothing to sneeze at), as well as a hefty chunk of status. You can start the quest by talking to Foomby Slopdigger near the Tagglefoot Farm. You can also grab The Reaching Blade of the Assassin, a lengthy HQ that will take you across several zones, ultimately culminating with a legendary level 42 dagger reward. Speak to Leelav Yekl on the beach just west of the Bobick docks to get started.

Dungeons

Runnyeye is one of EQII's most famous dungeons, and rightly so due to the great goblin horde bent on continually throwing itself onto the blades of you and your group mates. If you're looking for the quickest way to level through your 30s and into your 40s, you could do a lot worse than grouping through Runnyeye. Whether you're simply grinding the goblin mobs, finishing off Legends and Lore quest items, or partaking of the dungeon's heroic quest line, you'll speed through the levels and have a good time doing it.

The Enchanted Lands also feature an entrance to The Obelisk of Lost Souls dungeon, but as this dungeon isn't specifically tied to the zone, we won't go into details here other than mentioning that the access point is located at EL's Ghobber Camp.

Conclusion

That about wraps up this week's tour of the Enchanted Lands. If you're nearing level 30 on your EQII adventurer, it's definitely worth a look, particularly since it's so different from the other 30ish zones around the world of Norrath. In my opinion, it's much more aesthetically pleasing than Zek, and the quests aren't quite as difficult as those found in The Feerrott. There's also the Steamfont Mountains for the thirty-something adventurers in the audience, but those are fodder for a future column as I've yet to venture into them. Until next week, keep the blue side up.

Jef Reahard may be an eternal EverQuest II newb, but he writes a weekly column about the game anyway, through the eyes of a Ratonga Wizard (or any one of 3,720 other alts). If it has to do with the huge and ever-expanding world of EQII, it's been jotted down in The Tattered Notebook. Send Ratonga fan mail to jef@massively.com.